Thursday, August 9, 2012

A note on copyright

"Copyright law does not protect recipes that are mere listings of
ingredients. Nor does it protect other mere listings of ingredients such
as those found in formulas, compounds, or prescriptions. Copyright
protection may, however, extend to substantial literary expression—a
description, explanation, or illustration, for example—that accompanies a
recipe or formula or to a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook.
Only original works of authorship are protected by copyright.
“Original” means that an author produced a work by his or her own
intellectual effort instead of copying it from an existing work.
For further information about copyright, see Circular 1, Copyright Basics.
Note that if your recipe has secret ingredients that you do not want to
reveal, you may not want to submit it for registration, because
applications and deposit copies are public records"

So listing ingredients is not protected by copyright law, but I believe a word-for-word description of how those ingredients are put together could be subject to copyright, so in those cases, I have done my best to acknowledge my original post or add a link where needed (or both). However, factual information such as temperature of an oven, time to bake, etc. are not copyrighted even in the text of the recipe. The literary expression of how a list of ingredients or facts are written up can be copyrighted (for more information, see http://www.schwimmerlegal.com/2006/01/can-recipes-be-copyrighted.html) , but this is why I have taken great pains to not copy a recipe description word for word without acknowledging it. Furthermore, if you change the amount of ingredients, add to or remove ingredients from the body of the recipe, you are no longer violating copyright law because the process is now changed.

Finally, all of the photos I use are either ones I have personally taken (which ARE copyrighted) or I've received permission from a family member to publish their photos on my blog. I will acknowledge them any time I use a photo I have not personally taken. This is also notice that any use of my photos require my permission to use with proper acknowledgement to me for taking the photo. This is why I do not upload my photos to recipe sites.

Okay -- glad my friend brought this up. I think this is always a tricky area, but I am certain that since I started this blog and researched copyright law of recipes that I have not violated the law; however, there are always times when you could find a recipe that is exactly like mine. If that happens, don't assume I copied them -- perhaps they copied me!

Now that the legal mumble jumble is done -- just enjoy my recipes. This blog is NOT about the law -- it is about cooking and life and family, all of which I love!

This is Me

I am a follower of Christ. I was a SAHM for 20 years to my two sons, homeschooling both of them through high school. I love my husband who loves me unconditionally and is the nicest person you'll ever meet. My oldest son is 20 and a student in college. My youngest son is 18 and is still figuring out what he wants to do. Living a life of faith is my only goal.